Colt Police Positive Special

I have in front of me a Colt 'Police Positive Special' revolver. The grips are hard black rubber with a thumb rest on the left grip. The fixed sights are a thick blade and squared notch. The ejector rod is unshrouded. On the back of the grip frame are the initials "RHKP" which I think stand for Royal Hong Kong Police. There is slight holster wear. My camera is not playing nice, so I can't include a picture.

not sure the thumb rest grips are the proper grips for this model but i know it's a cfine gun and starting to reach a status of collector. and yes it was used by the hong kong police. with a serial number someone should be able to track down when it was made. they were no different than the police positives sold to the public .

got up and found a book on colt exports. it seems the thumb rest grip was a factory option for the guns shipped to china. as was the laynard loop on the bottom of the grip. most but not all were 38 new police ie 38 s&w not 38 special in order to make it ammo capitable with the webley and enfield top break.

Ok, now it gets even stranger. The cylinder is the length of those revolvers chambered for 38 Special, not short like the 38 Short Police Positives. However, the cyinder is not bored for 38 Special, which only goes into it about half way.

Colt made the Police Positive, in two model versions, from 1907 through 1947. They were chambered in 32 Colt, 32 Colt New Police (32 S&W Long) and 38 Colt New Police (38 S&W) (Colt did not want to put "Smith and Wesson" on their guns, so they called the cartridge "Colt New Police").

They also made the Police Positive Special. Same as the Police Positive, except for a longer frame, so it could take a longer cylinder that could be chambered in longer cartridges. It was made, in two different models, from 1907 through 1946, and chambered in 32/20 Winchester, 32 Colt New Police, 38 Colt New Police and 38 Special. Then, from 1947 onward until discontinued in 1995, it was chambered in 38 Special only.

So, you see, it is completely normal to find Police Positive Specials chambered in either 38 S&W or in 38 Special.

If your gun was sold to the Hong Kong Police, and the guns they were already using were Enfields and Webleys, chambered in 38/200 (the standard British service cartridge) it would make sense for them to want their new guns to be chambered in that round also, for ammo compatibility. 38/200 is nothing but the 38 S&W loaded with a 200 grain RN lead bullet, instead of the 145 grain RN lead bullet that American factory ammo is loaded with.

My confusion comes from post #4, where you say, "This one is .38 Special.", and then post #6 where you say specials won't fit. Which is it?